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AUTHOR: 
 
 WAN NOSTRAND, J.J 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 AN EXPLANATION OF 
 A MECHANICAL... 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 1901 
 
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 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 
 
 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 
 
 Z/i Van Nostrand, J -v J,>\» • i 
 
 22 
 
 An explanation of a mechanical philosophy 
 
 Chicago 1901 D in 10 p pi 
 
 No 4 of a vol of pamphlets 
 
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 AN EXPLANATION 
 
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 OF 
 
 A MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY 
 
 BY 
 
 ^ J» J- y^N NOSTRAND 
 
 Chicago, III. 
 
 1 901 
 
Copyright 190 J, 
 
 PrefaItory. 
 
 The office of A Mechanical Philosophy is 
 the demonstration of the existence of a third 
 most general order of phenomena in nature, 
 co-equal with the first and second. Its time- 
 liness is evident as it demonstrates, mathe- 
 matically, the ground of necessity underlying 
 the desperate resistance, by the Boers and the 
 Phillipinos, to the loss of their independence. 
 
A MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Philosophy is cx-plan-ation, literally, out- 
 spread-working. 
 
 The mechanical is the machine-like, and 
 implies something doing work undtv fixed con- 
 ditions. Hence necessiiy is the mark of the 
 mechanical. 
 
 Exact repetition of the work done, notwith- 
 standing great complexity in the subdivision 
 of the working parts, certifies to the dominion 
 ofthett«i/in the construction of the machinery. 
 The unit is "any standard quantity by the 
 repetition and subdivision of which any other 
 quantity of the same kind is measured." C<r»/. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 ''Science is the whole body of truth, considered 
 as a system derived from some initialy or cen- 
 tral truthy which thus gives unity to the 
 
 whole." 
 
 "^ science is a partial body of truth, similarly 
 considered, and embracing some one conven- 
 iently limited department of the knowledge." 
 C E, Warren, Bescrip. Geom,, p. i . 
 With the above definition of science taken as 
 both problem and theorem, the formula here- 
 
 with proposes to solve and prove the truth 
 of the declaration and thereby establish A 
 Mechanical Philosophy. 
 
 MIND IN NATURE. 
 
 No two men think and reason alike, nor does 
 any independent man maintain the same men- 
 tal attitude toward any problem for an appre- 
 ciable length of time ; therefore fixity is not 
 predicable of mind in man. 
 The manifestation of definite proportion and 
 symmetry throughout nature certifies to the 
 existence of a mind to which choice is as 
 strange as fixity is to mind in man. 
 Knowledge is by comparison, a kind of 
 coupling. Hence to know the two forms of 
 mind is to get their difference. 
 Mind in nature is, 
 
 diagrammatical (demonstrative), 
 
 mathematical (authoritative), 
 
 mechanical (norm-al), 
 and, therefore, impersonal (fixed). 
 Mind in man is, -^ 
 
 dialectical (atfgpientative), 
 
 aesthetical (speculative), 
 
 emotional (spiritual), 
 and, therefore, personal (variable). 
 
By reduction it is evident that necessity dom- 
 nates the one, and, therefore, subjection is 
 proper to it, similarly, that choice rules the 
 other, and, therefore, independence is proper 
 to it. 
 
 The truth is changeless, an end ; moreover, 
 unlike absolute zero, it is a practical end, and 
 owing to its fixity, an end at which mind in 
 nature aims.^^^^^^^, *x 
 
 Mind in ngtuit is evidently complimental, 
 but subsidiary. Spirituality is obviously the 
 subsidy. 
 
 THE SEMATICAL. 
 
 The method of the formula is historical, but 
 under mathamatical authority. 
 It requires the postulation of a third most 
 general order of phenomena in nature, the 
 sematical (sign-like) or ratio-nal. The first 
 and second, respectively, the physical (body- 
 like) or material, and the psychical (life-like) 
 or vital completing the whole. 
 No whole comprising three different parts 
 can be explained, either distinctly or ade- 
 quately, in terms of but two. Con-fusion is 
 certain to follow the attempt. 
 
 The sematical unit is the simple geometrical 
 co-ordinate : 
 
 H- 
 
 Rcgressively this unit decomposes into a neg- 
 ative element (the polarized horizontal line), 
 and a positive (the polarized vertical), corres- 
 ponding to the physical an-ion and cat-ion, 
 and the psychical spermule and ovule. 
 Furthermore, by abstraction the polarized 
 point may be obtained. The point is defined 
 as "that which has place, or position in space 
 without occupying any part of it." Manifestly 
 that which is everywhere and every when, can- 
 not be divested of anything, even its polarity. 
 Progressively this unit evolves a unity with 
 the negative pole of the vertical line for its 
 base, tne three free poles furnish bases for 
 the erection of three new units of exactly one- 
 half the size of the initial unit. Then by two 
 more similar steps a definitely proportioned 
 sy metrical unity is given which is really an 
 "organic totality," since it carries ideas gest- 
 ant. 
 
THE IDEATION OF THE UNIT. 
 
 Its ability to carry ideas in the form of a 
 proposition is the peculiar property of the 
 sematical unit. 
 
 "Truth, in the strict, logical sense, applies to 
 propositions and to nothing else ; and con- 
 sists in the conformity of the declaration made 
 to the actual state of the case." Fleming. 
 The ideation involves the name of the thing 
 (the idea), the thing of the name (the reality), 
 the antecedent of the thing (its static aspect), 
 and the consequent of the thing (its dynamic 
 aspect). 
 
 THE IDEATION OF THE UNITY. 
 
 The ideation of the unity is that extension of 
 the ideation of the unit which means philos- 
 ophy considered as completely unified knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 The ideas must conform to the synthetic 
 properties of the unit in order that the uni- 
 fied thought-units may be seen to grow into 
 an organic totality. 
 
 The terms required for the work are primary 
 ideas, beginning with the most general and 
 finishing with the ultimate. Generality= 
 allness. Ultimateness="a final or definitive 
 condition." 
 
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In their generality the ideas are quantitative, 
 as ultimate they are qualitative. 
 The ideation of the initial unit consists in the 
 use of the terms Mind in nature and its three 
 correlates, Physical^ Psychicaly and SematicaL 
 Mind=the idea ; Sematical or rational=the 
 reality ; Physical or material=the static as- 
 pect ; Psychical or vital=the dynamic aspect. 
 Mind thus quotients into its correlates. 
 Ratio = quotient, ratio-nal = quotient-like, 
 and ratio-cination=qaotient-ing. 
 These ideas now progress in strict corres- 
 pondence with that of the units in their for- 
 mation of the unity ; decreasing in generality 
 and increasing in ultimateness (definitive 
 power). Each step taken is the expression 
 of totality, e. g. atom, molecule and ether form 
 the all of physical, phenomena. Plasm, cell, 
 and fibre form the /o/^/ of psychical, and so do 
 meaning, thought, and truth form the all of 
 sematical. But it is not until the fourth step 
 is reached that pure ultimateness is obtained. 
 
 HISTORIZATION. 
 
 The formula is now a complete history of 
 mind in nature's operation in the establish- 
 ment of norm-alization (science). The source 
 
of its explanatory power, or systemarization of 
 primary ideas, is the essential property ot 
 (proper to) the geometrical co-ordinate. 
 The fact that primary ideas necessarily con- 
 form to these units gives a common geomet- 
 rical progression to the whole. 
 The further fact that this progress of the pri- 
 mary ideas is from the most general to ulti- 
 matcs, in strict compliance with the law of 
 continuity, certifies to the validity of the pos- 
 tulated, sign-like, third most general order of 
 phenomena in nature, in a form so authorita- 
 tive as to make human criticism inoperative. 
 The history is entirely that of Mind in nature 
 operating toward an end aimed at. The 
 terms of the physical are explanatory of the 
 ratio-nalized motion, the geometrical struc- 
 ture. Those of the psychical are explanatory 
 of the effect of Mind in nature's mathematical 
 method upon its medium, — Mind in man. 
 Those of the sematical explain explanation, 
 i. e., they set forth the conditions of knowl- 
 edge of knowledge qua knowledge. The 
 Principle of auto-geneity as the correlate of 
 omo-geneity and hetero-geneity is hereby 
 
 demonstrated.* 
 
 History=Knowledge through having been 
 
 seen. The happenings in the organic struc- 
 turalization of the truth are, for us, a contin- 
 uous performance. An exercise in histol- 
 ogy, forming the warp and the woof of a web- 
 like process of marvelous beauty. 
 Note a few of the co-ordinations of this pro- 
 cess of one-shape-working (uniformation): 
 The three kinds of motion, translation, rota- 
 tion, and spiralization ; all real-ized in the 
 latter. 
 The same, coupled and divided into pushes 
 
 and pulls. 
 
 Pushes — Heat \ Electricity ) Light 
 Pulls — Chemism ( Magnetism j Gravitation 
 The so-called three laws of motion reduced 
 to single terms, negation, position, and equa- 
 tion ; suggesting — , -|-, and = as merely 
 another step in reduction. The difference 
 in utility between the ordinary definitions of 
 these principles, and their reductions to the 
 form of single characters, demonstrates the 
 histo-ric power of the sematical thought-pro- 
 cess in an unmistakable way. 
 A step forward in complexity is definition by 
 the ultimates. The process now becomes 
 more evidently mathematical. 
 The whole may be considered as the domain 
 
 8 
 
of exact knowledge, composed of three realms j 
 each realm comprised ot three provinces, each 
 province embracing t\iTt^ fields, and each field 
 having three places. 
 
 The most general co-ordinations govern the 
 more particular ; e. g., in the psychical realm 
 there are three provmces, a plasmic, a cellu- 
 lar, and a fibrous; each province groups 
 three fields, a plasmic, a cellular, and a 
 fibrous, their relative positions being corres- 
 pondent with that of the plasm, the cell, and 
 the fibre in their original triangulation. Then 
 each field co-ordinates three places, a plasmic, 
 a cellular, and a fibrous, under the conditions 
 of the original correspondence. Thus we 
 have the place of the final definitive ultimate 
 in the field, the place of the field in the 
 province, and the place of the province m the 
 realm = the place, of the place, of the place. 
 Following the suggestion thus set forth, viz: 
 that each term has a certain spatial relation, 
 and using the psychical realm we have the 
 following definitions by the ultimates : 
 
 Election = the fibre, of the fibre, of the fibre. 
 
 Intuition = the plasm, of the fibre, of the 
 
 fibre. , 
 
 AflFection = the fibre, of the fibre, ot the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Comprehension = the cell, of the fibre, of the 
 
 fibre. 
 
 EflFection = the fibre, of the fibre, of the cell. 
 
 Sensation = the plasm, of the fibre, of the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Discrimination = the fibre, of the plasm, of 
 
 the fibre. 
 
 Determination = the fibre, of the cell, of the 
 
 fibre. 
 
 Expression = the cell,of the fibre, of the cell. 
 
 Confliction = the plasm, of the plasm, of the 
 
 fibre. 
 
 Discomposition = the fibre, of the plasm, of 
 
 the plasm. 
 
 Restriction = the cell, of the cell, of the fibre. 
 Inhibition = the fibre, of the cell, of the cell. 
 
 Secretion = the fibre, of the cell, of the plasm. 
 Association = the plasm, of the cell, of the 
 fibre. 
 
 Irradiation = the cell, of the plasm, of the 
 
 fibre. 
 
 Alienation = the fibre, of the plasm, of the 
 
 cell. 
 
 lO 
 
Impression = the cell, of the fibre, of the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Localization = the plasm, of the fibre, of the 
 
 cell. 
 
 Nutrition = the plasm, of the cell, of the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Dissipation = the cell, of the plasm, of the 
 
 cell. 
 
 Appetition = the cell, of the cell, of the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Segmentation = the plasm, of the cell, of the 
 
 cell. 
 
 Aversion = the cell, of the plasm, of the 
 
 plasm. 
 
 Dissociation = the plasm, of the plasm, of 
 
 the cell. 
 
 Excitation = the plasm, of the plasm, of the 
 plasm. 
 
 Reproduction = the cell, of the cell, of the 
 cell. 
 
 These meanings are comparatively complex 
 reactions of the ultimates. Their verification 
 belongs to histology. 
 
 II 
 
 The coupling and the rhythm incident 
 thereto, probably belong to an advanced 
 geometrical process. Perhaps the logarith- 
 mic spiral. See polarity (coupling), as an 
 ultimate, within the province of spiralization 
 (rhythm). 
 
 The same silent voicing of knowledge is 
 proper to the other realms, by repetitive sub- 
 stitution ; the mark of the unit. 
 The norm (the sematical unit) is common to 
 each realm, province, and field of the domain 
 of exact knowledge — rationalized knowledge 
 of motion or physical phenomena, ratio- 
 nalized knowledge of knowledge of sematical 
 phenomena, and ratio-nalized knowledge of 
 the one, and only form of human necessity, 
 that which renders it impossible for man to 
 not know a fully comprehended mathematical 
 determination. Mathematics is equality. 
 "Things which being applied to each other 
 co-incide, are equal to one another." 
 "Things which are equal to the same thing 
 are equal to one another." 
 Hence, norm-alization is the end and the aim 
 of A Mechanical Philosophy.